Danzo left the Dark Forest with all his subordinates.
His face was now filled with anger.
Shinji's words, "Perhaps you should wait until you become Hokage someday," had completely shattered the last line of defense in his heart.
"Hokage… I must become Hokage!"
Danzo tightened his grip on his cane, his desire for the Hokage position burning fiercely once again.
After that brief exchange, he was certain that Shinji would never become his subordinate.
"If I can't have him, then I'll destroy him!"
"Damn Uchiha!" Danzo's killing intent surged. "I can't let someone like that stay by Hiruzen's side."
"With him around, he'll eventually become the biggest obstacle to my rise as Hokage."
Leaning on his cane, he walked steadily through the shadows of the dense forest, his steps firm, yet an icy aura emanated from his entire body.
Suddenly, a dark figure flashed into view.
A Root ninja leaped out from the shadows, kneeling on one knee and speaking respectfully, "Lord Danzo! There's intelligence."
Danzo said coldly, "What is it?"
The Root ninja stood up, leaned close to his ear, and reported in a low voice.
After hearing the content, a flicker of surprise crossed Danzo's face, followed by a faint trace of mockery.
"The Uchiha dare to covet the Hokage position?"
"Utterly ridiculous!"
His surveillance of the Uchiha had never slackened.
According to the intelligence, someone within the Uchiha was restless, secretly contacting Jonin from other ninja clans, clearly paving the way to vie for the Hokage position.
But Danzo wasn't worried in the slightest.
He understood Konohagakure's power dynamics all too well—the Hokage position would never fall into Uchiha hands.
Those ninjas and Jonin would never support the Uchiha.
And the next Hokage could only be him.
He lowered his head slightly, lost in thought.
The Uchiha's influence had grown significantly recently, yet they still couldn't gain mainstream support.
Perhaps he could use this to his advantage?
A sinister idea quietly took shape.
He waved his hand and ordered, "Go, secretly summon Uchiha Fugaku here."
"Yes."
A Root ninja beside him responded softly, his figure instantly vanishing into the forest.
…
After Danzo left, Shinji didn't linger in the forest either and headed straight back to Tsunade's residence.
That night, he recounted everything about encountering Danzo during the day to Tsunade.
Shizune was startled upon hearing this. "Lord Danzo? Did he try to recruit you into Root?"
Tsunade clicked her tongue, then earnestly warned Shinji, "That guy Danzo uses dirty methods. Stay far away from that old man."
Even though Danzo was her grandfather's student, Tsunade detested his power-above-all, ruthless approach to the extreme.
Shinji nodded lightly and smiled. "I didn't agree. I still want to learn Medical Ninjutsu from you, Lady Tsunade."
He took the opportunity to show his loyalty.
These words made Tsunade burst into laughter. She walked up to Shinji and patted his shoulder firmly.
"My student, how could he be poached by that old fox? It seems he's jealous."
Shinji and Shizune exchanged smiles, and the atmosphere in the room lightened considerably.
…
Over the next few days, Shinji traveled back and forth between the Uchiha Clan Territory and Konohagakure Village.
He took on many D-rank missions, helping ordinary villagers with various chores: repairing roofs for elderly people living alone, babysitting crying children for young couples, or clearing clogged ditches at the village entrance.
His proactive and warm-hearted attitude earned him praise and recognition from many villagers.
After these days of effort, he finally completed a Side Quest.
He successfully bound over twenty villagers, most of whom were already familiar neighbors, along with some people he had helped during missions.
He had conquered all of them to the first stage.
Although these people only provided him with a few points, at most a few dozen points each, he didn't mind the small amounts. Instead, he happily watched the quest progress bar fill up bit by bit.
Last night, on a whim, he tried binding Shizune as well.
The moment the binding was completed, Shizune directly reached the first stage of conquest.
Her recognition of him had also broken through the first-stage threshold due to their time together, so the System automatically completed the conquest judgment.
This both surprised and delighted Shinji.
In the living room on the first floor of Tsunade's house.
Shinji sat on the sofa, focused his mind, and summoned the System Interface.
At the top of the message bar, a new prompt indeed popped up:
[Side Quest: Make Friends has been completed. Progress: 30/30]
[Quest Rewards: 50,000 Points, A-rank Gift Box ×1, Charm Attribute Point +2]
[Note: A true Uchiha makes many good friends!]
Besides these 50,000 Points, the Daily Check-ins from Kurenai Yuhi, Nohara Rin, and Kakashi brought him another 30,000 Points.
10,000 from each, totaling 30,000.
This number truly exceeded Shinji's expectations.
The Check-in Rewards weren't a one-time windfall but a stable, steady stream of income.
This meant that in just one year, he could earn 360,000 Points—nearly half of the 800,000 Points needed to upgrade to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
As long as he completed the second stage of conquest and maintained good relationships, he could steadily earn 30,000 Points every month.
And that was without taking on extra missions or pursuing new targets.
Thinking of this, Shinji suddenly felt full of anticipation for the future.
He looked at the A-rank Gift Box in the Item Inventory on the left side of the System and silently took it out.
"Let's open the A-rank Gift Box first."
Focusing his mind, Shinji selected the gift box.
The moment the lid opened, a huge roulette wheel engraved with intricate patterns materialized in the air.
"A-rank Gift Box opening, please wait…"
The silver pointer spun rapidly before gradually coming to a stop.
"This gift box reward types: Item, Secret Technique"
"New item obtained: Never-Wilting Flower"
"Item description: A bouquet woven from special plant fibers, with lustrous petals and vibrant colors. It will never wither, fade, or scatter, no matter how much time passes."
"New secret technique obtained: Magic: Sound Lock"
"Item description: Uses special melodies to form invisible locks that invade the nervous system through hearing, sealing the enemy's movements and Chakra flow, rendering the target completely immobile, as if trapped in a mental cage."
Shinji was momentarily stunned; the rewards weren't as practical as he had expected.
"The Never-Wilting Flower seems like just a decorative item."
He took out the bouquet from the Item Inventory and examined it. It was indeed beautiful, but it offered no help in boosting his strength.
Somewhat frustrated, he placed it back into the Item Inventory.
As for the other item, "Magic: Sound Lock," it was a Sound Genjutsu, which wasn't very useful for someone like him who possessed the Sharingan.
"But I could find an opportunity to give it to Kurenai. She'd probably be interested."
Shinji sighed inwardly; this gift box hadn't brought him the pleasant surprise he had hoped for.
Still, successfully completing a Side Quest was an achievement in itself. Now, he only had the [Cure Hemophobia] Side Quest left and needed to plan carefully.
He silently closed the System, then stood up and walked straight out the door.